Day 2: Continued from Day 1

Day 3: (Below)

Day 2 kicked off to a late start for me. I didn’t roll in from the partying the night before until about 5:30 AM, so waking up at 8 or 9 was far from my mind. Finally at about 12PM I began to stir, and about 1 or so, was back at the Seaport Convention Center to visit the booths and meet some more people.

The area where the booths were set up was much more spacious, making walking around and talking to new people much easier than at the Meet Market. Before I arrived in Boston, I had a nicely sized list of booths and people who I wanted to meet, but of course forgot to print it out and bring it along. I still managed to do ok, visiting just about (if not all) the booths I had planned.

Some of the highlights: Read the rest of this entry

Affiliate Summit Boston came and went, and without a doubt, kicked some major ass. My first, but certainly not last AS event. (Vegas is coming baby!)

I’m kinda bummed that it’s already over though, as 3 days literally flew by. As a guy I hung out with said (PJS from Israel), and I quote “I wish there were an Affiliate Disneyland of sorts where the networking, new friends, and late night partying would continue year round”). Touché.

I don’t think there was a dull moment from the time I arrived until the time I finally left (this morning).

I’m now in Houston visiting some family for a few days before flying back to San Francisco on Sunday. I had a rather bumpy flight from Boston to DC, causing one of the worst neck crinks I’ve ever had. An hour at the massage parlor only provided temporary relief. And like an idiot, I left my cell phone at the gate at Logan Airport. Luckily though, United found it and will be FedEX’ing it to me tomorrow.

Anyway, yeah…back to Affiliate Summit Boston, my thoughts & experiences:

Day 1: Arrival. I crashed out at p202’s room until my room was ready the next morning. (thanks again guys). Steven and I were hungry as hell when I got to the hotel and finally found a local pizza joint that was open at 1:30am, that would deliver to the Westin. What a dilemma this turned out to be.

The dumb ass delivery guy got went to the wrong hotel 3 times, and finally showed up with 2 very cold, flat, and stale pizzas at about 5:30am. By this time I had passed out and had all but gave up on eating that night. Gourmette Boston pizza at it’s finest.

I spent most of the next day at the Meet Market walking around meeting people & a few of my “new” affiliate managers, and hanging out with the Prosper202 guys.

I was happy to have a chance to dust off my networking skills, which were probably a little rusty from my past life as a systems administrator, on the off chance that the Navy sent me to a seminar or training course.

I managed to come about 20 cards shy of my goal of pawning off all 100 of my very ghetto homemade business cards. But I’ve gotta (smile on the inside) at how many positive comments I received for the fact that I included a small pic of my ugly mug on the front of my cards. I had no idea this was such as novel idea, especially among such well crafted marketing minds. Of the 100+ cards I received, I don’t think I saw one other card with a picture to go with the name.

Personally, I myself am usually good with faces, but terrible with names, unless I’ve had longer than a 3 minute conversation with you. And the whole point of the event was networking, so I figured I’d try to maximize it’s effectiveness. (I’ll give props to my mother for the idea, as this is a common networking strategy among real estate agents)

The Meet Market was a blast though, and the encounters were often casual and an personal. My only complaint was the lack of condiments normally provided at such events such as complimentary coffee, juice, or fruit. Water was made available, but that was about it. By dinner I was starving as breakfast and lunch apparently were not in the stars for day 1 of ASE.

Dinner that night was spent among about 25 other affiliates, as Ian Fernando was kind enough to invite me along for the event at Anthony’s Pier 4 seafood restaurant (thanks again Ian). The food was pretty good, though I somehow managed to eat two salads, not realizing a first salad came as an appetizer after I had already placed my order.

And then….ah the ShareASale boat party. Some people complained that this party was lame. I disagree. Yeah, the band blew (what was the deal with them playing sitting down? …gay). But an open bar, wasted affiliate managers, and secret outside blackhat talks was a good thing. I had a good time.

And then to top off day 1…a visit to Lucky’s bar out in town, followed by a private gathering in a $3000/night suite at the Westin, I thought the fun would never end. The events for the rest of the night will have to remain private between those who were there, but nonetheless…it convened into a rather interesting evening.

Day 2: To be continued…

Way of the Warrior: Tip of the Day: Meet your affiliate managers in person by any means possible. Attending an Affiliate Summit is a must. Get to know them, go have some drinks and build a relationship and possibly a friendship. It’s not who you know, its who knows you.

In less than 24 hours, I’ll be on a plane on my way to Boston heading to the Affiliate Summit Conference. So I’m making last minute preparations, like having Kinko’s do up some quick business cards, packing, picking up a new suit, etc.

It’s my first time to Boston (second if I count a layover on the way to London), so I’m excited to see the town. I’ve been told to “follow the redbrick road” (aka Freedom Trail), as this line takes you on a walk past all the interesting historical sites from our country’s not so distant past. Definitely on my to do list, though it’ll be tough to squeeze in with only 3 days in town.

I expect this trip to be a blast, though since I’m in California, I’ve got some considerable travel time ahead of me. But I’m prepared with all sorts of technogeek goodies to keep me occupied. Got my Ipod Touch ready to rock, my laptop (of course), and picked up an Amazon Kindle for the road.

I get in pretty early in the morning, at about 1am. I didn’t book a hotel for the first night simply because I figure that by the time I get in, get my luggage, then get to my hotel, that it’ll just be a few hours before the event starts that morning. Luckily though I’ve got a friend who’s gonna let me crash at his place just for a few hours…then I’ll be at the Westin for the rest of the trip.

I’ve never been to an Affiliate Summit event before, so I’m not exactly sure what’s in store, but I imagine it will entail lots of networking, new friends, and late nights at the hotel bar.

So far, I’ve been in contact with a few people from Wicked Fire who want to meet up and talk shop (party as well). Then on Sunday, I’m attending an affiliate dinner organized by Ian Fernando, of IanFernando.com, along with Wes and crew from Tracking202.com…and a few others faces who I’ve yet to meet.

I’ve made a list of the booths I’ll be sure to visit at the event, such as Clickbank, CJ, CPA Empire. I’d also like to meet with Heather Paulson of PPC Classroom, as she is the course moderator and a very knowledgable Adwords person. She was very helpful in the forum when I was a PPC Classroom member last year. I’ll have to say what’s up to Anik & Jermey as well. I met Anik briefly last year at the PPC Classroom event in Vegas, but never got a chance to meet Jeremy Palmer. But since this is pretty much a “networking intensive event”, meeting these people shouldn’t be too difficult.

If you’re gonna be in Boston at the event and want to get together, feel free to contact me either from this site, or follow me over at Twitter.

I should probably wrap this post up and go finish packing. I’m out here on my back lawn working on a last minute California tan, but starting to cook, so I need to go in.

So if you’re in Boston, drop me a shout out and we’ll get together for a beer or four See ya there!

Way of the Warrior: Tip of the Day: “Masterless Samurai are eternal students. Never stop learning, reading, improving yourself and those around you. Read, read, read, and turn off the damn TV. Do it!